Football goal post with souvenir projector



July 25, 1961 N. G. FOLEY 2,993,694

FOOTBALL GOAL POST WITH SOUVENIR PROJECTOR Filed June 15, 1959 2Sheets-Sheet l III] m ,6

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July 25, 1961 N. G. FOLEY FOOTBALL GOAL POST WITH SOUVENIR PROJECTORFiled June 15, 1959 2 sheet s 2 E O 4 E 0 man J t .Nmu 5i. w X a a w w wi I q H. fifig J M a q, 2

United States Patent 2,993,694 FOOTBALL GOAL POST WITH SOUV'ENFRPROJECTOR Norman G. Foley, Rte. 1, Box 14, Matoaka, W. Va. Filed June15, 1959, Ser. No. 820,520 Claims. (Cl. 273-55) The present inventiongenerally relates to football goal posts and more particularly to such agoal post having a mechanical arrangement for projecting or ejectingsouvenirs.

The football goal post will be of the required dimensions as set up byvarious rules organizations which control high school college andprofessional football.

It is not an unusual occurrence for enthusastic fans to tear down thegoal post after a football game and in fact the goal posts are quiteoften broken into a number of pieces with the fans retaining the piecesof the goal post as a souvenir of the particular football game. In orderto provide such souvenir hunters with a souvenir without having to teardown the goal posts, it is the primary object of the present inventionto provide a football goal post with a built-in projector which willproject or eject a plurality of souvenirs which may generally be in theform of flat disk-like members having various indicia printed thereonincluding advertising material and other information concerning theparticular game involved and the participants or what ever otherinformation is desired.

Another object of the present invent-ion is to provide a football goalpost with a souvenir projector which will literally shower souvenirhunters with readily available souvenirs with the projector apparatusbeing capable of operation immediately after a game has been completedto provide the spectators with a souvenir before they leave the stadiumand before they can tear down the football goal post.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide afootball goal post with projector apparatus for souvenirs whichmaintains a simplicity of construction, is long lasting, easy tooperate, effective for its particular purpose and generally inexpensiveto manufacture.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view, on a reduced scale, of a goal postemploying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the goal postconstruction and the mechanism for operating the projector;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the vertical goal postmembers;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 4--4 of FIGURE 3 illustrating the details ofthe projecting spring and manner of association of the projector disktherewith;

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 5-5 of FIGURE 4 illustrating furtherstructural details of the device;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of one of the disks employed in the presentinvention;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 7-7 of FIGURE 6 illustrating the structure ofthe disk;

FIGURE 8 is a plan view of the modified form of disk; and

FIGURE 9 is a detail sectional view taken substan- "ice 2 tially upon aplane passing along section line 9-9 of FIGURE 8 illustrating thestructural details of this form of the disk.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 generallydesignates the football goal post assembly of the present inventionwhich includes a pair of tubular uprights 12 and 14 which are disposedin vertical relation and in parallel spaced relation with the verticalstandards 12 and 14 being connected by a hollow cross bar 16 re ceivedwithin a fitting 18 on each of the vertical posts 12 and 14. The lowerend of each post '12 and 14 is provided with a padded area 20 forprotecting the football players from injury by accidental engagementwith the posts 12 and 14.

The lower ends of the posts 12 and 14 are received within mountingflanges 22 supported on the upper surface of an enlarged hollow casing24. In the casing 24 there is a continuation of the tubular post 12 and14 and the lower end thereof is supported by the bracket 26 carried by atransverse bracket 28. The bracket 28 has a depending leg 30 carrying anelongated driveshaft 32 which is driven from an electric motor 34through a V-bel-t drive 36.

The end portions of the shaft 32 are provided with bevel gears 38 whichare in mesh engagement with a bevel gear 40 mounted on a shaft 42 whichextends longitudinally throughout the length of the tubular members 12and 14. An elongated compression coil spring 44 is mounted on each shaft42.

The shaft 42 is of square or polygonal cross-sectional shape asillustrated in FIGURE 5 and a plurality of relatively thin circularplates or disks 46 are mounted on the shaft 42 and each of the disks 46is provided with an ovalshaped central opening 48 which will fit overthe shaft 42 and will be slid'ably engaged therewith but non-rotatablyengaged therewith.

FIGURE 8 illustrates a modified form of the invention including acircular disk plate 50 having an oval-shaped opening 52 and a pluralityof triangular shaped lugs 54 struck out from one side of the disk 50thus causing the disk 50 to sail differently from the disk 48 which isin the form of a solid metal sheet except for the opening 48.

Adjacent the lower end of each tubular member 12 and 14 there isprovided enlarged diametrically opposed openings 56 through which afall-out square pin 58 may be thrown upon rotation of the shaft. Removalof the pin 58 will allow expansion of the spring 44 for projecting thedisks upwardly and out of the top of the tubular member 12 or 14. Thepadding will lift up for access to the hole in the upright and the upperend of the spring 44 is also provided with a disk member 60 forming afollower for the spring.

Thus, the motor 34 rotates the shafts 42 about their longitudinal axesand will automatically cause ejection of the pin 58 whereby the spring44 will eject the disks vertically from the top of the post so that thedisks will sail in a well-known manner.

Either type of disk maybe used and various advertising material or otherprinted indicia may be imprinted on the disk and removable caps may beprovided for the upper ends of the post to protect the structure fromthe weather during periods of non-use,

The number of disks projected may be variable as desired and the sizeand material from which the disks are constructed may also vary withinthe limits of the size and shape of the tubular posts 12 and 14.

Wherever required, lubrication bearing facilities may be provided andsections of the casing may be removable for ease of repair, replacementor inspection of component parts such as the electric motor and thelike.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous 3 modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmaybe resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A football 'goal post comprising a pair of tubular upright posts, aplurality of disks slidably mounted on each tubular post, and meansmounted on each post for ejecting said disks, said means for ejectingthe disks including a compression coil spring mounted on each postand'engageable with the bottom of the lowermost disk, and means forretaining said spring compressed, said means including a removable pinengaging the upper end of said spring whereby the compressed spring willeject the disks when the pin is removed each tubular post being providedwith a polygonal shaft therein, means connected to each shaft fordriving the shaft, each disk having a polygonal opening whereby the diskwill be retated when discharged thereby causing the disks to sail andeventually fall to the ground.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said disks is in the formof a circular plate, said opening being oblong for fitting over thepolygonal shaft.

3.'The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said disks includes acircular plate, said opening being oblong and said plate having aplurality of triangular shaped projections struck-out therefrom forvarying the characteristics of movement of the disks.

" 4'. In a football goal post assembly having tubular uprights and ahorizontal crossbar connecting the uprights; that improvemen com ris nsisstqr pparatus 90. cealed within the tubular uprights and comprisingan elongated polygonal shafit in each upright, a compression coil springencircling each shaft, means connected to each shaft for rotativelydriving thefshafts, a plurality of disks slidably and non-rotatablydisposed on the shaft with the disks being received within the tubularuprights, and removablemeans for holding the springs in compressedcondition thereby enabling a multiplicity of disks to be placed on theshaft with the springs ejecting the disks when the spring compressionretaining means is released.

5. The-structure as defined in claim 4 wherein said compressionretaining means is releasable in response to rotational movement of theshaft thereby imparting a rotational movement to the disks as they areejected from the shaft, whereby the disks will sail in a generally flatmanner whereby air current will cause the disks to move in an irregularpattern.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS969,264 Sept. 6, 1910 1,014,953 Davis Jan. 16, 1912 1,133,235 PaprianMar. 23, 1915 1,213,943 Pecinovsky' Jan. 30, 1917 1,368,176 McMillanFeb. 8, 1921 1,515,314 Petersen Nov. 11, 1924 1,592,749 Smoots July 13,1926 2,074,125 Lefft et al Mar. 16, 1937 2,751,711 Greenwood June 26,1956

